Number of new HIV infections is rising in Russia

The number of new HIV infections in eastern Europe and central Asia rose by 60% between 2010 and 2016, finds a report published by UNAIDS this week.1

There were around 190 000 new infections in the region in 2016, up from 120 000 in 2010, says the report, with Russia accounting for most of these new infections: 62 581 in 2010 and 103 438 in 2016. The executive director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé, blamed the rise on the lack of evidence based programmes for harm reduction among injecting drug users in the country.

“We need a political leadership at the top, and we need to face the issue of the shrinking space for civil society—civil society is the structure …